Through the Looking Glass
by Malana
Summary: UPDATED! AU. Addison comes to Seattle after Derek cheats on her. She starts to fall in love with an intern, but things get even more complicated when Derek shows up at Seattle Grace. AddisonAlex, AddisonDerek
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, I usually don't even read AU stories; much less write them. But the idea for this hit me randomly, and I decided I just had to write it. Tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters.

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Addison Shepherd came to consciousness gradually. She desperately wanted to stay asleep, but the pounding of her head wouldn't allow it. Besides that, her bed was feeling incredibly hard, and cold. Opening her eyes, she realized the reason for that. She wasn't in her bed. She was on the floor of her living room.

And she wasn't alone.

Memories of the night before came rushing back to her. She was feeling generally miserable and alone in Seattle. So, she had gone to the bar. She had gotten quite drunk, and started flirting with a guy. A guy she brought home with her. A guy who, by the light of day, looked much too young for her.

They had sex. Addison could remember that. In fact, they had fantastic sex. But beyond that, Addison couldn't remember a thing about him. She didn't even know what his name was.

Addison stood up, and grabbed a blanket off the couch, wrapping it around her otherwise naked body. A glance at the clock told her that she had to at work in less than an hour. She saw under her breath, and looked down at the still sleeping figure at her feet.

"Hey," she said softly. When the guy didn't respond, she tried again, louder this time. She nudged him gently with her foot, "Hey!"

The guy groaned this time and shifted around a little on the floor before opening his eyes. He looked around in confusion for a moment, but broke out into a grin when he saw Addison looking down at him.

"Hey, yourself."

Addison rolled her eyes at the attempt at flirtation. "You have to go now."

The guy sat up and shot her a lascivious look, "Oh, come on. We had fun last night, no reason we can't have fun this morning."

Addison just glared. "Except for the fact that I have a pounding headache and I have to be at work in less than an hour."

The guy's eyes widened as he caught sight of the clock.

"Shit. I'm going to be late." He shot to his feet and looked around. Spotting his boxer shorts lying on a chair, he scooped them up, and quickly pulled them on.

"You see my pants?" He asked.

Addison found them on the couch and tossed them to him. "I'm going to go up and shower. I trust you'll be gone, by the time I'm done."

Alex smiled and nodded, "Don't worry about it. I'm not planning on being late for my first day." He looked her up and down, "Not even for someone as sexy as you."

Addison again rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile. As she headed up the stairs, the guy called out to her.

"Hey, I feel like an ass for asking you this, but what's your name?"

Addison paused, "I'm Addison. And there's no need to feel like an ass. I don't remember yours either."

"I'm Alex. Alex Karev," the guy offered as he started buttoning up his shirt. "Go on. Take your shower. I'll be out of here as soon as I get my shoes on."

Addison nodded vaguely, and continued on her way.

As the hot water of the shower ran over her, more memories of the night before came back to her. The sex had been great. And it was just nice to be with someone. She had only been in Seattle for about a month, and she still felt out of place. She went to Seattle Grace, she did her work, and she came back home. That's all she did. It was just going through the motions.

Doing something to break that routine, even if it was having a one-night stand, was a nice change. And if she was going to have a one-night stand, she could have picked a worse guy to have it with. Alex Karev might have been a little young for her, but he was gorgeous.

Addison almost regretted that she'd never see him again.


	2. Chapter 2

"You look happy," Bailey commented as she sat down across the table from Addison.

Addison chuckled. "You say that rather suspiciously, Miranda." Addison hadn't been in Seattle long enough to really make friends. But Miranda Bailey was the exception. The two women had simply clicked. Miranda was as tough-as-nails, and she didn't take crap from anyone. Addison had a lot of respect for that.

Bailey looked levelly at Addison. "Addison, I have never seen you looking relaxed and happy before. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to walk into the cafeteria and see you with a smile on your face, but it was also a little strange. What happened?"

Addison shrugged, "Nothing. Nothing happened."

"Sure it didn't. You're just naturally a very sunny person, right?"

"Miranda!" Addison protested.

Bailey studied her for a moment, "You had sex, didn't you?"

"No!" Addison said, but she could feel herself blushing.

"So, who was it? Please tell me it wasn't someone from the hospital. I don't want my job turning into some kind of soap opera."

Addison shook her head, "It wasn't anybody from the hospital." She learned across the table toward Bailey and lowered her voice, "Honestly, it wasn't even someone I know. I had quite a bit to drink last night at Joe's. This morning I woke up on my living room floor with some guy I've never seen before in my life."

"Well, well, well. The great Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, acting like a 20-year-old."

Addison blushed further, but shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, I guess it was just what I needed. I was more than a little embarrassed when I first woke up. But now I'm feeling pretty good about it. I mean, I one-night stand isn't really something to be proud of, but it's not like I'm going to make a habit out of it. And now I'm just feeling..."

"Relaxed?" Bailey suggested.

"Exactly," Addison said with a grin, leaning back in her chair.

"Do you even know his name?"

"Alex. His name was Alex."

"Good looking guy?" Bailey wasn't really the gossiping type. But she was glad to see her friend finally look a little happy.

Addison paused, a slow grin spreading across her face as she thought about Alex. "Yeah. I'd say he was pretty good looking. He knows it too, you can tell. Arrogant as hell, I can remember that much. But most of it's still a drunken haze. Though he does remind of someone else. A guy I knew in New York."

Bailey tried to hide her surprise at that comment. Addison didn't talk about New York very often. In fact, she never did. No, Bailey realized, that wasn't quite right. Addison talked about New York a lot, about how much she missed the city. But she only ever talked about the city itself, never about the people there. The few times Bailey had broached the subject, she had gotten no response. Addison had just seemed to close in on herself.

"In a good way, or a bad way?" Bailey asked carefully, hoping Addison wouldn't shut down on the subject.

"Both, actually. He reminds me of Mark Sloan."

Bailey recognized the name, "The plastic surgeon?"

Addison nodded, "Yeah. He was best friends with my-" Addison stopped, the smile fading from her face. She cleared her throat and started over, "He was one of my close friends."

Bailey wanted to push, but decided it was best not to. If Addison wanted to confide in her about whatever it was she was obviously running from, she would. Until then, Bailey would give her the space she needed.

"So," Addison began, wanting to change the subject. "How's the new batch of interns."

Bailey rolled her eyes, "Oh, Lord. Don't even get me started on this group."

Addison laughed, her good mood returning. Bailey was nicknamed 'The Nazi' for good reason. Interns feared her, and Addison couldn't blame them. She was tough of hell. She was also the best resident at Seattle Grace, which meant the interns assigned to her were actually quite luckily. Bailey got in on some of the best surgeries in the hospital, which meant her interns did as well.

"Any stand-outs I should be aware of? Anyone I should be requesting to work with? Or avoiding like the plague?"

Bailey shrugged. "It's too early to tell really. I've got Grey, Stevens, O'Malley, and Yang. Grey is Ellis Grey's daughter. She seems a little timid, but she's competent. Steven's paid her way through Med School working as an underwear model. She's going to have to fight like hell to get respect around her. O'Malley is like a puppy dog. Yang's one of the biggest suck-ups I've ever seen. She just can't wait to get a scalpel in her hands."

"And they're all deathly afraid of you?" Addison asked.

"You bet your ass they're afraid of me."

"Hell, Miranda. I think most of the attendings around here are afraid of you."

Bailey nodded in satisfaction, "And that's the way I like it."

Addison glanced at her watch, "Well, I've got a patient I should check on. Give me one of your interns tomorrow if you want."

Bailey nodded, "I'll probably give you Stevens. I think she might take to neo-natal work."

"Sounds good," Addison said as she got to her feet. "Just say something to make sure that your interns are afraid of me, too."

Bailey laughed, "I will."

Addison actually rather liked working with interns. She knew other doctors who hated it, but Addison liked teaching. When she was an intern she worked with people who became mentors to her-Richard being the most notable. She hoped that she could pass that along, and act as a mentor herself.

--------

That evening, Addison stood, waiting for the elevator, tapping her foot impatiently. Finally, the doors to the elevator slide open. Addison's mouth dropped open. There, standing in front of her, was Alex Karev.

It took her a second to realize he was wearing at long white coat, which could only really mean one thing.

"You've got to be kidding me," Addison said as she stepped into the elevator to stand beside Alex. Luckily there was no one else inside. She stared straight ahead.

"So, you're an intern here."

Alex looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

"You a resident?"

Addison snorted, "Actually, I'm an attending."

"Wow. Guess I did pretty well for myself then."

Addison whirled around, angry, but the grin of Alex's face told her he was just trying to get a rise out of her. She wanted to be mad, but she was actually enjoying this.

"You bet your ass you did well," Addison retorted. "Not that it will do you any good. I'm not going to give you special treatment just because we had a one-night stand."

"How about we make it a two-night stand?" Alex asked, taking a step closer to Addison.

Addison laughed, taking a step back. "Tempting, Doctor Karev. But I'm going to have to turn you down."

Alex faked a hurt look, "Oh, come on. Why not?"

"Because I'm an attending and you're an intern. No matter how good the sex was, it isn't worth the risk. Besides," she said with a smile, "I'm way out of your league."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Alex stepped off, but before the doors could close again, he turned back toward Addison. "Just so you know, I'm going to prove you wrong about that last part." He winked at her, and strode off, leaving Addison shaking her head in amusement.

But as she thought about it, the amusement quickly faded. She had slept with an intern. Sure, she hadn't known it at the time, but still, it was bad. Richard would have a cow. She hoped that Alex was the type to keep with mouth shut; otherwise the gossip mill would be running overtime. And Alex's parting comment made her worry. She couldn't have an intern chasing after her. It wasn't appropriate.

"Hold the elevator!"

Addison saw Miranda hurrying towards her, and put out an arm, to stop the elevator doors from closing.

Miranda stepped aboard.

"You're looking a lot less happy then you were a few hours ago," she comment when she got a look at Addison's expression.

Addison bit her lip. "Did you see that guy who got off the elevator before you got on?"

Bailey nodded, "Yeah."

"That was Alex."

"Alex?" Bailey asked before it dawned on her, "You don't mean-"

"Yep. That was young good-looking Alex from the bar."

"You slept with an intern."

"Apparently," Addison said flatly.

Bailey shook her head, "You're in some serious trouble."


	3. Chapter 3

"Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd!"

Addison was walking past the Nurses' Station but stopped when she heard a nurse call out her name. She walked over to the counter.

"Good morning, Mary. What do you need?"

Mary smiled brightly at her, "These were just delivered for you." She reached over and picked up a large vase of deep red roses and set them in front of Addison.

Addison looked at the flowers in surprise, "Do you know who sent them?"

Mary shook her head, "No idea. But there is a note." She pointed to the small envelope set among the flowers.

Addison felt almost nervous as she picked up the note. The flowers were beautiful, and the smelled heavenly, but she had a feeling of dread over who had sent them. They were from Derek, they had to be. Who else would send her flowers? But why would he send them to her? Why now? She just didn't want to deal with it. The whole point of coming to Seattle was to put her old life behind her. She didn't want to deal with this.

With a deep breath she opened the envelope and smiled when she read the hand-scrawled note.

'Prepare to be proved wrong.' That's all it said, but it was enough.

He had sent her flowers. An intern had sent her flowers. She shook her head, blushing slightly.

"So, who are they from?" Mary asked.

Addison looked up, "Just an admirer."

After arranging with Mary to leave the roses behind the counter until she went for the evening, Addison headed to the elevator. She'd have to put a stop to this of course. She couldn't have an intern giving her flowers. It simply wasn't appropriate. It was sweet, though, she had to admit that. God, Miranda was never going to let her forget this.

As she neared the elevator she saw Alex was standing there, waiting for it to arrive. She quickly turned around and headed for the stairs. She laughed as herself as she made her way to the neo-natal unit. She had just taken the stairs in order to avoid an intern. It was embarrassing. She felt like a teenager.

--------

"Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd?"

Addison looked up to see a pretty young blonde approaching her. She must be the intern of Bailey's, the one who used to be a model.

"Yes. And you must be Doctor Stevens."

"I'm really excited to be working with you," Izzie said, shaking Addison's hand.

Addison smiled, "That's good to hear. Doctor Bailey said that you'd probably do well in neo-natal work."

"She did?" Izzie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"You sound surprised," Addison observed.

"Well, it's just that Doctor Bailey...Well, I mean she doesn't really..." Izzie trailed off.

Addison chuckled, getting where Izzie was headed.

"You're surprised that she said something positive about you?"

"Yeah," Izzie said, slightly abashed.

"Bailey is tough, there's no doubt about that. But she's about the best resident any intern could hope to get. You'll learn a lot from her."

Izzie nodded, "Oh, I know that I will." Izzie lowered her voice, "She's just a little scary."

Addison had to hold back a laugh. "Everything's scary at first when you're an intern. But don't be embarrassed, I know Attendings who are frightened of Miranda Bailey." She gave Izzie an encouraging smile, "Now, come on. We have patients to see. Depending on how things go, I might even have a c-section for you to scrub in on today."

---------------

Addison sat at a lunch table across from Miranda, catching her up on her intern's work.

"She's actually quite good. She's a little uncertain of herself, of course. But she's just started her internship, so that's to be expected. I think she'll have a real gift for neo-natal, if she decides to got that way."

Miranda nodded, pleased to hear that Izzie Stevens had done well. Miranda always felt that her intern's work reflected on her, and she wanted to be sure they were representing her well. "And she's actually afraid of me?"

Addison grinned, "She thinks you're scary. Apparently the rest of your interns feel the same way. You're reputation as The Nazi lives on."

"Good to hear," Miranda said with a satisfied smile. "Uh-oh," she said, looking over Addison's shoulder.

"What is it?" Addison asked.

"Don't look now, but your boy-toy is headed this way."

"Alex?"

"Is there another intern that you slept with?" Miranda asked sarcastically. "Yes, Alex."

Miranda stood up.

"Where are you going?" Addison hissed under her breath.

"I have work to do. Can't have my interns running around unsupervised, can I? Besides, I do not want to be around for any post-one-night-stand awkwardness."

"Miranda!" Addison said desperately, but she was already walking away.

"Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd, mind if I join you?"

Addison turned around and glared at Alex. She didn't want to draw attention to them, so she smiled, "Of course, Doctor Karev. Is there something I can help you with?"

Alex grinned as he took the seat that Miranda had just vacated.

"Actually," he said, "I was wondering if you got the flowers I sent."

"Lower your voice a little, please. I'd rather not everyone in the hospital overhear you."

"They were very nice flowers," Alex said, quieter this time.

Addison couldn't help but smile, "Yes. They were. But you can't do that again."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Addison asked, surprised that he had given in so easily.

"Yeah." He leaned forward, "Next time it'll be chocolate."

Addison rolled her eyes, "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Alex asked.

"Stop flirting with me. I'm an attending. You're an intern. We can't do this."

"We can't talk?"

"Doctor Karev," Addison stared, but Alex cut her off.

"Look, I'm not asking you to marry me. I'm just saying that we had a lot of fun the other night, and there is no reason that we can't keep having fun."

Addison stared at him levelly, "There are plenty of other woman in this hospital that you could have 'fun' with."

Alex grinned, "But you're a challenge. I like a challenge." He shrugged, "But I'm not going to chase after you if you're really not interested. Like you said, there are plenty of woman in this hospital. But I think that you are interested in me. You've admitted that you had a great time with me."

"You're very confident, aren't you Doctor Karev?"

"I have reason to be."

Addison couldn't help but smile. He was arrogant as hell, but there was something very charming about him all the same.

Alex seemed to sense her reluctance to send him away, "Have drinks with me tonight."

"Why?"

"Because if you get to know me it'll be harder for you to say your not interested."

Addison narrowed her eyes, "There's that confidence again."

"That wasn't a no," Alex pointed out.

"No, it wasn't."

Addison thought for a moment, "I'll be a Joe's tonight at 10. If you happen to be there the same time, you can by me a drink."

Alex smiled as Addison got to her feet, "I'll see you there."

Addison made it all the way to the elevator before what she had just done really sank in. She had just made a date with an intern. There was no way this could end well.

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A/N: Alex is currently in full-blown charming mood. We'll see more over arrogant-jerky Alex during their date, and in later chapters. And...Derek will appear the chapter after next. I'm going to try to start updating this twice a week like I do "Cinnamon" but no promises. However, since I now have a pretty good idea of where this is going, updates will become a little more frequent.

As always, reviews make my world a brighter face. And so far this story is Addison-centric, and of course there is Addex, and Addek in the works. But if anyone has any other pairings they'd like to see, let me know and I'll see what I can do. (Except for Meredith/Derek. I do want to explore what would happen if they met under different circumstances, but I won't do anything long terms with them)


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, if it isn't my favorite neonatal surgeon."

"Hi, Joe." Addison smiled as she slid into a seat in front of the bar.

"Rum-and-coke?" Joe offered, already reaching for a glass.

"Thanks," Addison had spent more time at the bar then she'd like to admit since moving to Seattle. She had no social-life to speak of, so any of her free time that wasn't spent back at her apartment was spent at Joe's.

Addison glanced at her watch, then the door. It was still early, but she was worried that maybe Alex had decided not to come after all. It was stupid, really. She felt like she always did before she went on a date back when she was an undergrad.

"You waiting for somebody, Addison?" Joe asked.

Addison smiled, "I am, actually."

"It wouldn't happen to be the handsome Doctor Karev I saw you leaving with the other night, would it?"

"You know Alex?" Addison asked.

Joe nodded, "Yeah, the kid practically lives here." He set down Addison's drink in front of her. "Hey, it's not a problem is it? Him being an intern and you being an attending, I mean. It didn't even occur to me until after I saw you to leave, but..."

Addison made a face, "It's certainly frowned upon, but it's not like I'm going to get fired for it. Normally it's not something that I'd even consider. I mean, if I had know that he was an intern, I never would have slept with him."

"But now you know, and you're waiting for him here?"

She shrugged, "What can I say? Alex is a charmingly persistent guy."

"Well, I'm just glad to finally see you with a smile on your face. Practically ever other time you're in here you look like somebody just killed your puppy. And Alex is a good guy. I mean, he buries it pretty deep sometimes, but he really is." Joe looked up, beyond Addison, to the door. "And speaking of good guys..."

Addison turned to see Alex standing in the doorway. He grinned as they made eye contact.

"You want to grab a table?" he asked when he approached.

"Sure." Addison grabbed her drink and headed over to an empty table in the corner, while Alex got a drink of his own.

"What are you smirking about?" Addison asked, as he appeared at the table a few moments later, a glass of beer in hand.

Alex laughed a little as he sat down, "I got the hottest woman at Seattle Grace to come have drinks with me. I think that deserves a smirk or two."

Addison rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile. "You're laying the charm on just a bit thick, don't you think?"

"Well, I've decided I'm going to sweep you off your feet."

Addison raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you did, did you?"

Alex nodded as he took a drink of his beer. "I do have a lot to overcome, don't I? Turning a one-night-stand into an actual relationship isn't something that's done very often. Hell, I've certainly never tried it before. And then there's the fact that you aren't exactly predisposed to dating an intern."

"So, how do you plan to overcome all of my reservations?" Addison questioned.

Alex shrugged, "Getting you here was a good first step. The rest will follow once you get to know me."

Addison through back her head and laughed. "Alex Karev, you are one of the most confident men I've ever met."

"Is that a good thing for a bad thing?"

Addison considered as she took a sip of her drink. "I'm actually not sure yet."

They sat in silence for long moment, just smiling at each other.

"So," Addison said eventually. "Tell me about yourself."

"Where do you want me to start?" He grimaced slightly, "My whole life story isn't exactly first date friendly."

Addison shook her head. "Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm not asking for your deep dark secrets. Start with something easy. Do you know what you want to specialize in?"

"I'm going into plastics."

Addison had to smile at that.

"Are you amused by that?" Alex asked.

"I am, actually."

"Care to share the joke?" Alex asked, a little offended.

"Don't worry. I'm not making fun of you. It's just that you remind of another plastic surgeon I know. Handsome, cocky, full of himself."

"Handsome, huh?"

Addison chuckled again, "You just honed right in on that part, huh? So, why plastics?"

"Money," Alex said simply.

Addison stared at him, shaking her head slightly in disgust.

"How very noble of you."

"Well, I'm sorry that it doesn't live up to your standards. I suppose you'd rather me say I want to join you on the vagina squad?"

Addison threw back the rest of her drink.

"You're sort of letting the charm slip a little there, Karev."

Alex shrugged, "You're the one who accused me of not being noble. And plastic surgery isn't all about boob jobs and liposuctions. It's also fixing cleft-palates on babies and helping burn victims."

"True. But you said yourself that you're after the money."

"Nothing wrong with getting money for helping people. After all," Alex countered, "It's not like you're spending all your time at the free clinic. You're one of the highest paid surgeons at Seattle Grace."

Addison glowered at Alex for a minute, "This has turned quite combative for a first date."

Alex grinned, "Yeah. Fun, isn't it?"

Addison slowly smiled herself. "Yeah. It is, actually."

Alex finished his beer and stood up. "I'm going to go get us a couple more drinks. Why don't you think of more seemingly innocent topics that we can end up fighting about?"

"I'll see what I can do."

-------

The rest of the date actually passed quite pleasantly. They butted heads a few times, but it was always done good-naturedly. Addison hadn't been on an actual date in years. It felt weird, but nice.

Addison had to admit, she was sad to see the night come to an end.

"I've really got to go, Alex. I've got surgery in the morning," Addison said as they stood outside of Joe's."

"You want some company?" Alex suggested.

Addison groaned. She had been dreading this moment. "Alex, despite what our first meeting might suggest, I normally don't hop into bed with guys when I first meet them."

"I thought it was a long-shot," Alex said with a sigh. "But you can't blame a guy for trying."

"Well, you can always try again next time," Addison said with a grin.

"So, there is going to be a next time?"

"I certainly hope so."

"Do I at least get a good night kiss?" Alex asked hopefully.

"I certainly hope so," Addison repeated.

When their lips met, Addison felt a spark of electricity run up her spine. She couldn't remember the last time she had a kiss like that. In fact, she wasn't sure if she had ever had a kiss like that.

"Goodnight, Addison," Alex said with a soft smile.

"Goodnight, Alex."

A/N: Derek appears next chapter. And I'm thinking of doing a Mark/Izzie pairing. That's right boys and girls: Mark is coming to Seattle Grace. I'm not sure when, yet. But I've got most of the details worked out.

As always, thank you to all that take the time to review. It means a lot to me.


	5. Chapter 5

-----Three Months Later----

"I still don't see what she sees in him."

Christina, Izzie, and Meredith all rolled their eyes. They had heard this before. Many times in fact. And while they all agreed with George on the subject, it was starting to wear a little thin in terms on lunchtime conversation.

"Let it go, George," Meredith advised.

"But he's a jerk!" George insisted.

"Well, she obviously sees something else in him," Izzie noted. "After all, they've been together for, like, three months now. And she seems really happy. Maybe underneath it all, he's a really good guy, or something.""

The four interns studied Alex and Addison at their table several yards away.

"I really don't think he is," George said.

Christina shrugged, "Face it. Some women are drawn to jerks."

Meredith shook her head, "I just don't understand how she can date an intern. I mean, it's weird. An attending and an intern?"

"It's not that weird," Christina insisted.

"If you didn't have an attending of your own, you'd think it was weird," Izzie countered.

Christina only rolled her eyes in response.

"I just don't get it," George repeated.

--------

"You're friends are staring at us again."

Alex followed Addison's gaze to the table of interns, who quickly tried to look like they hadn't been staring.

"Those guys aren't my friends," Alex said firmly.

Addison rolled her eyes. "Fine. Your fellow interns are staring at us again."

"God," Alex said. "Why the hell did I have to get reassigned to Doctor Bailey?"

"Hey!" Addison said, swatting Alex's hand. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Doctor Bailey. You could do a hell of a lot worse in a resident."

"Maybe," Alex agreed. "But my fellow interns suck."

"I like them," Addison said simply.

"Oh come on," Alex protested. "I mean, I know you like Izzie, because she's all into the baby thing, but the rest of them?"

Addison nodded, "Sure. Yang might be too aggressive, but she's one of the best interns I've ever seen. O'Malley is sweet, but he's also more than competent. And I've only worked with Grey once, but we got along just fine. You should give them a chance."

"Whatever."

Addison sighed. The last few months had been great, but not without their problems. She really liked Alex, but sometimes they were a little too much alike. They were both aggressive and stubborn as hell. That meant that when they argued, neither of them was likely to back to down.

"Fine." Addison's tone was clipped.

"Addison," Alex said with a sigh. "I just don't feel the need to be friends with the people I work with. These people aren't my buddies. They're my competition. And Yang is a bitch, Stevens in an airhead, O'Malley is a pansy, and Grey is a timid mouse."

Addison shook her head. She really hated seeing this side of Alex. His anger made him uncomfortable. Sure, Addison had taken her own internship very seriously, but she had also grown close to the people that she had gone through the process with. She only hoped that in time Alex would soften to his fellow interns. It was important to have that network to fall back on. Being an intern was often terribly hard. Alex could use some friends. But she knew if she said that, he'd only get angrier. And she wasn't in the mood for a fight.

"Are we going to Joe's again tonight?" Addison asked, changing the subject.

"Sounds good."

"Alright," Addison said as she stood up. "I've got surgery, but I'll meet you in the lobby after and we can head over." She leaned down and gave Alex a quick kiss. "See you tonight."

----------

As she waited for him in the lobby, Addison thought about her relationship with Alex. She was surprised by how happy she had been lately. The two had decided to go public with their relationship as soon as they had established that they were going to give this thing a serious try. Well, to be honest, that had been more of Addison's decision. Alex had fought it at first. But Addison knew that nothing could be kept secret in a hospital for long. It was better to be straightforward and honest in cases like these.

Richard had been less then thrilled, but he told Addison that he appreciated them being honest about it. Mostly he seemed worried about what would happen if there was a bad break-up. He didn't want that kind of tension in his hospital. He had also expressed concern over special-treatment. But that had changed when Bailey had become Alex's resident. The Chief knew as well as anything that Bailey wouldn't stand for her interns not getting equal treatment.

Bailey did not approve of her friend being in a relationship with her intern. She had made that perfectly obvious. Although she had told Addison it was nice to see her looking so happy, she still had big problems with the relationship. She also had reservations about Alex. She told Addison that she didn't want to see her getting hurt. Addison had done her best to assure Miranda that she could handle Alex Karev, and that it would in no way affect the surgeries that Alex got. It was actually a good thing that Alex had no interest in Addison's specialty. Luckily, Addison and Miranda's friendship hadn't suffered at all. Things had been a little strained at first, but they had worked things out. Addison was grateful for that. Friends like Miranda Bailey didn't come along very often.

In all honesty, Addison was a little frightened by how quickly she had fallen for the young Doctor Karev. When they had first started dating, Addison thought that it was just going to be some simple fun, having drinks together, and occasional dinner, and some hot sex. But somehow it had turned into something more. She saw a side of Alex that no one else seemed to see. She knew that he didn't open up much to anyone. But he had started to open up with her. And she really liked the side of him that only she saw. He could be kind. He could be sweet and romantic. And Addison loved that about him.

Addison felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her waist and she smiled, leaning back into Alex's embrace. She sighed happily and turned her head to give him a kiss.

"How was surgery?"

"It was fine," Addison said. "Both mother and daughter are perfectly healthy."

"Good. Hey, do we have to do Joe's tonight?" Alex asked.

"You don't want to go out tonight?" Addison questioned, turning to face him, feeling a little hurt.

"I figured we could go back to your place. You know, have a night to ourselves. I'll make some dinner," Alex offered.

Addison nodded and smiled. "That sounds great."

The smile faded from Addison's face as she looked over Alex's shoulder to the doors of the hospital. This couldn't be happening. Not now. She could not be seeing who she thought she was seeing. Yet there he was, walking directly toward her and Alex.

"Alex," Addison said, her voice filled with worry. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" Alex asked, turning around to see what had her so worried.

"Who is that?" Alex didn't recognize the handsome dark-haired man who has headed their way. "Addison, what's going on?"

"Hello, Addie."

"What are you doing here, Derek."

"I left you several messages. You never returned my calls."

Alex frowned at the two of them, his frown deepening when the stranger turned toward him with a smirk.

"Hi. I'm Derek Shepherd. And you must be the guy who's been screwing my wife."

A/N: Normally I don't like to just take things directly from the show and plug Addison/Alex into Derek/Meredith's place. But the scene was pitch-perfect on the show, so I wanted to stick closely to it.

I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going with the pairings in this story. It's going to be quite long, so there might be a bit of a romantic merry-go-round. Right now I still plan on having an Addek pairing in the end, but that isn't for certain. Sometimes my writing gets away from me. But, Addek will be getting together at some point.

Other pairing that might possibly appear in the fic (This includes everything from flirtation to dating to long-term romance) Addek, Addex, Mark/Izzie, Mark/Meredith, Christina/Burke, George/Callie, George/Izzie, Derek/Meredith, Izzie/Alex, Izzie/Denny, and Izzie/Derek. Yeah, Izzie/Derek. I have a serious weakness for the pairing, and I've only ever found 2 fics that use it. I'm not saying it'll fit in this story, but it might.


	6. Chapter 6

Alex looked back and forth between Addison and Derek, disbelief etched on his face.

"You're married?" he said finally.

Addison nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry, Alex. I know I should have told you, I meant to tell you so many times."

"But you didn't," Alex said coldly.

"I'm sorry."

"That's really not good enough," Alex said. "But you know what, I don't care. Stay here. Talk to you're husband," he practically spit out the word. "Go to hell, Addison." He turned and walked off.

"Alex, wait!" Addison called after him. But he never even turned around. She watched as he walked out the door. Then she whirled around and faced her husband.

"You bastard."

Derek snorted in disbelief, "What, it's my fault that you didn't bother to tell your boyfriend about me?"

Addison glared, "If you must know, I was trying to forget that you even exist. As far as I'm concerned, you're my ex-husband now."

"You never filed for divorce, Addie. Remember? Hell, you never even told me you were leaving. I just came home to find all of your things gone. I didn't even know where you were until Mark told me."

"Frankly, Derek, I didn't want to see you after I found out about your affair. I couldn't stand to be in that house, that house where we were a family, and look at you after what you did."

Derek sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Addison, I'm so sorry about that. I never wanted to hurt you."

"It's a little late for that," Addison said. "If you never wanted to hurt me, you never should have had an affair. Saying your sorry months later isn't going to fix things."

"I would have said it a lot sooner if you had stayed. Or if you had bothered to return any of my phone calls."

Addison crossed her arms over her chest, "Oh, so it's my fault, is it?"

"No," Derek said hurriedly, "That's not what I meant. Of course not."

"Why are you even here? Why now?"

"Richard called me and asked me to come. I'm here to work on a case. And when he told me that you were dating an intern..." Derek trailed off. "I had to come. I had to try to fix things. I know that I should have come as soon as I found out you were here. But I just kept thinking-kept hoping-that you would come to your senses and come back to New York. That'd you come back to me. You're a New York girl, Addie. You don't belong here."

"Well, I don't belong with you Derek," Addison said coldly. "Not since you decided to have an affair."

"Addison, I had a one-night stand. And I regret it more than anything else that I have ever done in my life. I still love you. I want to work things out."

"That isn't going to happen, Derek. I don't love you anymore." Addison turned to leave, but Derek grabbed her arm, and pulled her close.

Derek stared into her eyes and leaned forward, kissing her deeply.

Addison melted into the kiss. It felt so right and so familiar. She had missed the feeling of being in Derek's arms so much. But soon she got herself under control broke the kiss off, pushing Derek away.

"You still love me, Addison. I know that you do," Derek whispered. "Please, don't throw our marriage away. Don't throw our love away."

Addison blinked back tears, but when she spoke her voice was hard, "You already threw it all away, Derek. You slept with another woman. There isn't going to be a you and me any more."

"Addie--"

"No. You're in town for a job, fine. You'll consult and then you'll go back to New York. And then I'm going to get divorce papers drawn up, and we're never going to see each other again, okay."

Derek shook his head, "That's not what you really want, Addison. I know it's not. Just promise me you'll think about it. Promise you'll consider giving our marriage another shot. You're the love of my life, Addison. I can't just walk away from that without a fight." He took a deep breath, "But I'm here for a week. If at the end of that time, you still want me to walk away, that's what I'll do."

"Walk away now, Derek." Addison was practically pleading.

"I can't do that, Addison. Not until you can look me in the eye and tell me that you truly don't love me anymore." He raised a hand to brush the tears from Addison's cheeks, but she flinched away.

"I really am sorry, Addison." Derek looked at her sadly one more time before heading for the elevator.

Addison took a shaky breath and angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks. How could he do this to her? How could he just show up without any sort of warning? God, why hadn't Richard told her that he was bringing Derek in? In the morning, she'd be giving him a piece of her mind, that was for sure.

She walked slowly to her car, just wanting to go home. But when she got in the driver's seat she ending up collapsing. Tears streamed down her face as she buried her head in her arms.

The look on Alex's face when Derek had introduced himself had been horrible. It was like someone had stabbed him in the chest. She knew that she should have told him. As soon as their relationship had turned into something other than a one-night stand, she should have told him the truth. But she had been so afraid of scaring him off. And she really didn't even want to speak about Derek, much less talk about him and what he had done to her.

There had been so many times when she had been close to telling Alex the truth, but she had never gone through with it. And now it was too late. How could he ever forgive her for this? Derek was back in town, her world was a mess, and the one person she wanted to talk to most in the world, now hated her guts.

She hadn't seen Derek since she had learned of his affair. She simply packed her bags and left. She hadn't said goodbye. She hadn't even left a note. So they had never talked about it. They had never had a huge final fight. She had simply left.

And now he was in Seattle. And he was telling her he loved her. And he was saying he was sorry. And he was kissing her. That kiss...that kiss. It was like she had been transported back in time. For those few seconds the entire world had melted away around them. All there had been was the sensation of Derek's lips on her own.

Until that moment, she hadn't ever let herself think about how much she actually missed her husband. Derek had been the love of her life. Derek had been her best friend. She so desperately wanted that back. But how could they ever have that again after what he had done? How could she ever forgive the man who had broken her heart?

And now there was Alex. She had only been with him for a few months, but she was already developed deep feelings for him. He was so different from Derek. And she loved that about he. He challenged her in ways that no guy had ever challenged her before. She really cared for him. And now it looked like that had been ruined too.

Addison had no idea what she was going to do. But one thing was clear. It was going to be one very long week.

A/N: Sorry that it's been a week-and-a-half since the last update. I was just sort of dreading writing this chapter. As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed. It always makes me smile to know that people are enjoying the things that I write.

I also now have a better idea of what pairings I'm doing, and I think I know what the ending pairings will be. And a word of warning: Izzie/Derek is totally going to happen (for a little while). All I ask if that you bear with me. I know it's an odd pairing, but I have a bigger purpose in mind.


	7. Chapter 7

-The Next Day-

"What are you doing?"

Izzie stood at the Nurses' Station. She was leaned forward, her elbows on the counter. A file was in front of her, but she was pretty much ignoring it.

"Hey, Mer," Izzie said as Meredith appeared at her side.

"Really," Meredith repeated, "What are you doing."

"I'm staring," Izzie said simply.

Meredith grinned, "And what exactly are you staring--" she cut herself off when she followed Izzie's gaze. "Wow. Who is he?"

"I have no idea," Izzie said of the man standing a few yards away chatting with Chief Webber. "But he's seriously dreamy."

"Seriously," Meredith agreed.

"I think he might be the most attractive man I've ever seen in real life."

"That's the new neuro-surgeon."

Izzie and Meredith both turned to see Cristina standing next to them, a knowing look on her face.

"You have gossip?" Izzie asked eagerly.

"I certainly do."

"What's his name?" Meredith asked.

"That," Cristina said with a smirk, "is Doctor Derek Shepherd."

"Is he related to Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd?" Izzie asked.

"You could say that."

"Spill, Cristina!" Meredith demanded.

"He's her husband."

Meredith and Izzie just stared at her, jaws on the floor.

"You cannot be serious. Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd is married? To the new dream-boat surgeon?" Izzie asked in shock.

"A nurse told me, she overheard him talking to the Chief."

"But she's dating Alex." Meredith pointed out.

Cristina shrugged, "I guess it wasn't dating so much as having an affair. Though why you would cheat on someone who looks like that, I cannot understand."

Izzie shook her head. "I can't believe it. Do you think Alex knew?"

"I have no idea," Cristina said.

"I mean, it's not like she was hiding her relationship with Alex. Everybody knew about it. And I never heard anyone say that she had a husband. Seriously, what if Alex didn't know?"

"What do you care, Izzie? You hate Alex."

"No, Cristina. Izzie's right. I mean, I know none of us exactly get along with Alex, but this could be bad. Have either of you seen him?" Meredith asked.

"Not since rounds." Izzie shook her head.

"I haven't seen him either."

"Maybe one of us should talk to him or something," Izzie suggested.

"I don't think that Alex is the type who'd really want to have a heart-to-heart chat. Not with one of us anyway," Meredith said gently.

"I guess," Izzie said with reluctance. "But I still feel bad for him."

-------

Addison hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. She couldn't stop thinking about the mess her life had suddenly become. Once again, Derek had managed to throw her life into complete upheaval. She noticed the stares of several nurses and a few other hospital employees as she walked down the hallway. The gossip mill worked quickly here, after all. By now, news of her husband's appearance was all over the hospital. Officially, Derek was here to consult on a case. But he had made it abundantly clear that he also intended to try to win her back.

Part of her wanted to kill him. She wanted to scream at him and tear his heart out. She hadn't realized how angry she still was with him until he had shown up at the hospital the night before. She thought she had put that all behind her. But apparently she hadn't.

The worst thing was that there was part of her that didn't want to yell and scream. Part of her still wanted to run into his arms and pretend that the last six months never happened.

And then there was Alex. Alex, who made her laugh. Alex, who made her feel loved. Alex, who had never betrayed her or broken her heart. Alex had made her happy, truly happy. Happier than she had been since she had found out about Derek's affair. In fact, she was happier with Alex then she had been in the last year or so of her marriage. Things had been bad, even before the affair. She may have only have been dating Alex for a few months, but she knew it was something special. Alex was her second chance.

Of course, she had ruined all of that by not telling him that she was married. She cursed herself for being so stupid. She had kept telling herself that she was just waiting for the right moment. But the truth was, there was no right moment. And the more time that passed, the harder it was. She had convinced herself that Alex didn't really need to know. After all, as far as she was concerned, her marriage was over.

But it wasn't over. She was still married. And now Derek was in Seattle, and Alex had found out about it in the worst way possible. At first, he had just looked shocked. But that was quickly replaced by a cold anger. She had hurt him. She had hurt him badly. And she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to fix that. But she had to try.

Addison's heart quickened as she turned a corner and saw Alex ahead of her.

"Doctor Karev!"

Alex glanced over his shoulder. His expression darkened when he saw Addison headed his way.

"Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd," he said, his jaw clenched. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Alex," Addison dropped her voice to a whisper. "Please, I'm so sorry. Just let me explain what--"

Alex cut her off, "If you have hospital business to talk about, then I have to listen to you. But if you just came over to offer some half-assed excuses, I don't want to hear it."

Alex turned and stormed off. Addison went to go after him, only to find her way suddenly blocked by Doctor Bailey.

"Miranda, let me go after him."

Bailey crossed her arms over her chest. "That's not going to happen, Addison. You need to give him some space. Hell, I'm pissed at you for not telling me about your husband, so I can't even imagine how angry Alex must be."

"Miranda, I'm sorry." Addison sighed, "I should have told you. You've been a great friend, and I should have told you about Derek. But it was too painful to talk about. I just wanted to pretend that part of my life didn't happen."

Bailey stared at her a moment, before nodding her head. "Later, you're going to tell me everything. But right now, I'm going to go talk to my intern."

"I really am sorry," Addison called out as Miranda went after Alex.

Bailey paused for a moment and turned back around. "I know you are. But making this right isn't going to be that easy."

------

A/N: I wasn't going for **quite** that much angst, but it was sort of hard to avoid. As always, thanks to my reviewers. You guys have been great. Please keep the questions/comments coming.

Next chapter: Izzie interns for McDreamy, Bailey talks to Alex. Derek asks Addison to make a decision.


	8. Chapter 8

"He's heading our way."

Cristina, Izzie, and Meredith were still huddled together at the Nurses' Station, gossiping about the Doctor Shepherd situation, when Cristina noticed that he had stopped talking to the Chief, and was now walking in their direction.

Meredith and Izzie both glanced over, and immediately stopped talking, trying their best to look professional.

"Which one of you is Doctor Stevens?"

"Um, that would be me."

Izzie hoped to god she wasn't blushing as the neurosurgeon smiled at her, and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Derek Shepherd, I'll be working here for the next week or so. And apparently you're going to be my intern on the case I'm working on."

Izzie shook his hand, unable to stop herself from returning his dazzling smile. "It's nice to meet you, Doctor Shepherd. This is Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang," Izzie said, pointing to her friends in turn.

Derek greeted the other two interns, then turned back to Izzie. "Alright, Doctor Stevens. Why don't we go see our patient? I'll fill you in on the case as we walk."

"That sounds great." As she walked away with Doctor Shepherd she glanced back at her friends. Meredith looked amused, but Cristina looked jealous. Izzie wasn't surprised. If he had been brought in to consult on a case, it must be something big.

A big case with a seriously dreamy surgeon. There were worse ways to spend a day. Of course, it was made a little awkward by the fact that the doctor in question was the previously unmentioned husband of a doctor who was in a relationship with one of Izzie's fellow interns. Izzie had noticed that he was wearing a wedding band. Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd didn't wear one, obviously. Izzie desperately wanted to know what was going on. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of bringing it up without seemly horribly unprofessional.

But once Doctor Shepherd started talking about the details of the case, Izzie found herself forgetting all about the gossip surrounding the handsome doctor. Like she thought, he was here because the case was incredibly complicated. There would be a lot of hard work involved. But it looked like she would be able to scrub in on a really amazing surgery. And Doctor Shepherd was great. He treated her like an equal. He didn't talk down to her, but at the same time he was careful to make sure that she had a firm grasp on all the concepts he covered.

Later, after they had checked in on the patient, Doctor Shepherd turned to Izzie.

"Doctor Stevens?"

"Yeah?" Izzie noticed that he looked a little uncomfortable.

"Chief Webber mentioned that you had done a lot of work for Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd."

Izzie suddenly felt quite awkward herself. "Yes. I've worked for her quite a bit."

"How is she?" Doctor Shepherd ran a hand through his hair, "I mean, you've spent a lot of time with her. Does she seem alright? Does she seem...happy?"

Izzie bit her lip, not sure quite how she should respond. She knew it was unprofessional of him to ask her this. But it wasn't like she could blame it. This was his wife, after all.

"She does, actually." Izzie's tone was gentle. "She does seem happy. I think things have been really good with..." Izzie trailed off.

"With Alex Karev?" Shepherd asked with a sigh.

Izzie just nodded in response.

He was silent for a long moment, staring off into space. Then he seemed to pull himself back together. "Okay. That's good to know. I'm scheduling Mr. Wilson's surgery for tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to have you scrub in, but I don't really need you anymore today."

"Okay," Izzie said softly. "And thank you for the opportunity to get in on this case."

He nodded at her, but didn't say anything. Still feeling the awkwardness from the brief conversation about his wife, Izzie turned and walked away. When she glanced back over her shoulder, he was leaning up against a wall, looking sad and lost in thought. Izzie had no idea what had gone on between him and his wife. But right now, her heart was going out to him.

---------

"I don't want to talk about it."

Miranda looked at her intern, sitting alone on one of the benches in the locker room.

"You don't have to talk about it to me, Karev. Not if you don't want to."

"Good." Alex was leaning up against his locker, staring directly ahead of him.

Miranda took a seat by his side. "But you should talk to Addison."

Alex snorted and turned to glare at her. "You're my Resident. I get that you can boss me around when it comes to work. I have no problem with that. But my personal life is none of your business."

Miranda shook her head. "That's where you're wrong. It is my business. My interns are my business. And when one of them is so upset that he can't do his job, I'm going to get involved. Especially when he's upset because of another Doctor in this hospital."

"I'm not upset," Alex said simply.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. Why would you possibly be upset about your girlfriend's husband, who you knew nothing about, showing up here?"

"I thought you said I didn't have to talk to you about this?"

"Well, you have to talk to someone. And if you aren't going to talk to the actual cause of the problem, then you're going to have to talk to me."

He looked at her, a questioning look on his face. "You didn't know, right? That she was married. You didn't know?"

Miranda pursed her lips. "No, I didn't." She couldn't keep the bitterness about that fact out of her tone. "And I was working under the assumption that we were close friends. Marriage is not a detail that you expect people to leave out when they're telling you about their pasts."

"Especially not if you're dating them," Alex added.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a long moment before Alex spoke again.

"Why'd she do it? That's what I don't understand. I don't usually do the relationship thing. If it had just stayed a one-night stand, then I could understand." Alex shook his head and sighed, leaning his head back up against a locker. "It figures that the first real relationship I have is with a woman who turns out to be married."

"I can't tell you why she did it, Alex." Miranda frowned, "The only person who can tell you that is Addison. But the thing I can tell you is that she really does care about you. I don't think this was about wanting to get away with cheating on her husband. She told me that Derek was a part of her life that she wanted to pretend never happened. She cares about you. And if you really care about her, than you owe it to yourself to find out what happened." Miranda stood up. "But at the end of the day, it's your decision. And if you chose not to talk to her, then I won't ever bother you about it again."

She walked to the door, but stopped with Alex called out her name.

"Thank you, Doctor Bailey," Alex said simply before returning to stare into the space in front of him, trying to figure out what he should do.

-----

Addison was just coming out of a long surgery. She was tired and her whole body ached from the hours of standing in one spot. She was putting some final notes in her patients chart when she felt a presence behind her. She turned to find Derek standing behind her. He held out a cup of coffee to her.

"I missed the opportunity to get you some before the surgery. But I figure with all you've been through post-surgery juju is just as necessary as pre-surgery juju."

Addison couldn't help but smile as she reached out and took the offered cup. "Thank you, Derek."

Derek returned her smile as he took a sip from his own cup. "Do you have anything to do right now, or can we talk?"

Addison stared at him for a moment. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this yet. But sooner or later, they did need to get everything out in the open. Addison knew that. But she also knew it was going to be hard.

"Okay," she said eventually, "Let's go talk."

A/N: Sorry that it's been over a week since I updated. Time sort of got away from me. Coming up in the next couple of chapters: Alex hears Addison's story, Addison has to make a choice, Alex forms a friendship with a fellow intern, and a certain steamy male comes to Seattle.


	9. Chapter 9

Derek and Addison stepped out of the hospital into an atypically warm and sunny day. They walked in silence at first; both of them just sipped at their coffee, unsure of what to say.

"You're the one who wanted to talk, Derek." Addison finally broke the silence.

Derek sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know I did. I'm just trying to figure out how to start this conversation. I miss you, Addie. And I know that I screwed up. I know that I screwed up big time. And I hurt you. And maybe I don't actually deserve to be forgiven. But I want you to forgive me. I need you to forgive me. Because I miss you. I miss us."

Addison stopped walking and closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to hold back tears. "I miss us too, Derek." Addison's voice was thick with emotion. "But I don't' know if there can be an 'us' again. You broke that. You broke us."

Derek nodded, tears in his eyes. "I know that, Addison. But I want to try to put us back together again."

"You cheated on me. You slept with a nurse. I mean, my god, I've know Allison for years. And you slept with her. I don't know how to get over that. You say it was only a one-night-stand. And I believe that, I do. But I don't know if I can get over it." Addison began walking again, not able to stand there and look Derek in the eyes.

Derek hurried to catch up with her. He found it was much easier to talk about this if he could just look straight ahead of him. It was bad enough hearing the sadness and anger in Addison's voice. He didn't want to have to see it on her face as well.

"What happened with Allison was a mistake. And if I could go back and change anything in my life, it would be that moment. And I should have told you as soon as it happened. I should have confessed. But I was scared, and I felt so guilty. And then two days later I come home and find that all of your things are gone. And there's a note on the bed that just says, "I know. I'm leaving." Derek took a deep breath to steady his voice. "Addie, the second I walked into the brownstone I knew something was wrong. Before I even saw that any of your things were gone. The house just felt wrong. It felt empty. I felt my world fall away from me, Addison. Because if I don't have you, then I don't have anything."

Addison shook her head, "Then why did you have sex with another woman, Derek?" Addison turned and grabbed his arm to force him to look her right in the eye. "If I mean so much to you, why did you cheat on me?"

Derek swallowed hard at Addison's question, not entirely sure how to answer it. He had asked himself that very same thing a lot over the past few months. "Things weren't good between us. You know that," he said gently. "And you had pretty much shut yourself down. There was a coldness there." Derek held up a hand to hold off the protest he was sure Addison was about to make. "No. I'm not blaming you for that. I realize that was my fault too. I was spending so much time at work. It's no wonder you shut me out. I was never around. And when I was, I'll admit that I didn't try that hard to fix things.

"And then one night I was working late at the hospital. And Allison was there..." Derek trailed off. "It just happened. It never should have. But it did. I was weak and stupid and angry. And it happened." Derek looked at Addison and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't want to hurt you, Addie. I never want to hurt you. You're the love of my life. If you really still want me to leave, I will. We'll get divorce papers drawn up, and then I'll go back to New York, and I'll never bother you again. But if you think there is a chance -no matter how small- that we could try to make our marriage work, I'll move to Seattle in a heart beat."

For a long moment, Addison just stared into Derek's eyes. He was being honest, she could tell. If she told him to leave, he would. But she no longer knew if that was what she really wanted. As angry as she was, as hurt as she was, he was still Derek. He was still her husband."

"I don't know, Derek," Addison said eventually. "I honestly don't know. I need sometime to think about this, okay?"

Derek nodded, "Take as long as you want. I promise, I'm not going to put any pressure on you." He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the cheek. "I'm just glad to know that you're at least considering it. Thank you for hearing me out."

"I have to get back to the hospital."

Derek nodded, "Okay. I think I'll stay out here for a while, get some fresh air."

"Okay." Addison turned and headed back to Seattle Grace, brushing tears from her face.

-------

Addison was checking on a newborn that was in her care when she glanced up to see Alex watching her from beyond the window of the nursery. She blinked in surprise when he nodded at her. She motioned that she would be out in a minute, and went back to making some notes on the baby's chart.

She stepped out of the nursery nervously, not sure what to expect.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," Alex's own tone was gentle. "I was thinking maybe we should talk."

Addison nodded, relieved. "Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea."

They walked in silence down the hospital corridor until they came to an on-call room that was thankfully empty.

Alex stood by the door, while Addison took a seat on the edge of the lower bunk bed.

"So. You're married."

Addison nodded. "Yeah."

There was an edge in Alex's voice, "Now see, that's what I don't understand. How the hell could you have not told me that you're married?"

"I'm sorry, Alex. I really am. I didn't tell you right a way because you were just supposed to be a one-night-stand. And then when it started to turn into an actual relationship, I was just too scared too tell you. And the more serious we became, the harder it was. I told myself I was just waiting for the right time. But of course there never was a right time."

Alex shook his head. "I had a right to know, Addison."

Addison looked down at the floor, "I realize that, Alex."

"What happened? Between you and Derek, I mean. Bailey said you told her you just wanted to pretend like that part of your life never happened. What did he do?" Alex's voice became tight and he knelt in front of Addison. "He didn't hit you, did he? Because if he did, I swear to god--"

"No!" Addison exclaimed, looking up at Alex, shocked at the thought of it. "No. Of course not. Derek's not a violent man. He'd never lay a hand on me."

"Then what did he do?"

Addison sighed. "He cheated on me. We were married for eleven years, and then he cheated on me. He slept with a nurse who worked at our hospital. Someone told me about it, and I left. The only reason I didn't file for divorce right away was that I didn't want anything to do with him. Richard had been trying to get Derek and me to come out to Seattle for years. So, I called him up to see if he still wanted me. I left New York. I left Derek and I never looked back."

Alex nodded. "You still should have told me," his voice was softer now. "You should have told me from the beginning."

"I know that. And I'm sorry."

"Okay." Alex clasped Addison's hands in his own and squeezed them gently before standing back up. "I need to go, I've got a patient to get ready for surgery."

"Yeah."

Alex went to the door, but turned back to Addison before leaving.

"I'm guessing one of the reason's Derek is here is to get you back."

Addison nodded. "He told me he wants to try to work things out."

Alex looked at her for a long moment before responding. "I realize that you've probably got a pretty big decision to make. But you should remember something. He cheated on you. Eleven years of marriage and he slept with someone else. He hurt you so badly that you moved to the other side of the country." Alex shook his head. "Me? I'd never do that. I'd never hurt you."

Addison looked up, surprised, as Alex left the room, closing the door behind him. Would Alex really still take her back? Was that what he meant by that?

Addison sighed and put her head in her hands. Alex was definitely right about one thing: she did have a big decision to make.

A/N: Sorry again for the long wait between updates. I'm trying to get back on a regular schedule, but we'll have to wait and see how that goes. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to review, it's always good to know that people are actually reading what I'm writing. Mark is going to come soon. Sometime in the next three chapters.


	10. Chapter 10

"I just don't know what to do, Miranda."

Addison and Miranda sat in a booth at Joe's Bar. Miranda had had a long day, and all she really wanted to do after her shift was to go home and sleep, but Addison had practically begged her to go to Joe's with her. Addison needed someone to talk to about the current state of her love life. Miranda wasn't particularly thrilled to be that someone, but she knew that her friend was hurting, and she did want to help.

Still, she couldn't help but be a little bit frustrated at the situation.

"Addison, you realize that your asking for me to give you romantic advice about one of my interns, right?"

Addison flushed. "I know. I'm sorry, Miranda. But I don't have anyone else I can talk to about this."

"Let's just lay the issue on the table, shall we?" Miranda suggested. "On the one hand, you have Derek Shepherd. A very handsome, very talented, very charming neurosurgeon, who says that he is very much in love with you. Oh, and he just happens to be the man that you are married to. On the other hand, you have Alex Karev. An equally handsome man, who could make a very good surgeon someday. He may be a little rougher around the edges than Derek, but he's charming in his own way. He is an intern, which makes things a little dicey. But unlike your husband, he never cheated on you with another woman."

Addison sighed. "Yes, Miranda. That's essentially the situation."

"Well, which one do you really want to be with? Ignoring any guilt you feel over not telling Alex the truth, or any obligation you feel toward the man you married. Who do you want to be with? Because that's all that matters."

"It's not that simple." Addison shook her head. "I love Derek. I'm always going to love Derek. I do think he's truly sorry for cheating on me. I really do think that he wants to try to work things out. And we were married for eleven years, and together for even longer than that. I'm still angry with him, yes. But I'm also still in love with him. I just don't know if that's enough. I don't know if I can ever trust him again. But we're married. And that means something. It's not that I feel that I'm obligated to give him another chance. Derek cheated on me; I'm not obligated to give him anything. But marriage still means something. My marriage still means something."

"And Alex?" Miranda prompted.

"Alex is...well, he's Alex. He was just supposed to be a one-night stand. It wasn't supposed to be a real relationship. But it became one. I didn't think I'd ever want to date again after Derek. But Alex changed that. And I know he can be a cocky jerk. But he can also be one of the sweetest guys I've ever known. And I think he'd still be willing to give a relationship a shot. Even after what I did, he wants to be with me. Most guys wouldn't be so forgiving."

Miranda nodded. "That's true. But do you love him?"

Addison was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah. I really do. And it's different than Derek. It can't compare to the fifteen years I spent with him. But how could it? It's only been a few months. But those few months have been so amazing that I can't even imagine how it could be given time. And there is a huge part of me that wants to see where the relationship could take us."

"So you're going to choose Alex."

"I don't know!" Addison leaned forward, resting her forehead on the table. Addison was used to making choices. She was used to being decisive. You had to be as a surgeon. Making important decisions in a split-second was part of the job, lives depended on it.

But now, when it came to making a decision about her own life, she just didn't know what to do. Did she go with Derek, the man who had been her first love, but who had broken her heart? Or did she go with Alex, a man she had only known for a few months, but who had helped to put her heart back together again.

Miranda just shook her head in mild disgust. "Addison, you have two smart, gorgeous men who want you to choose them. Do you have any idea how many women out there would want to be in your shoes right now? But you have to make a choice. You can't just drag them along. It's not fair to them, and it's not fair to you. You say that you love both men, and I believe that you do. But in your heart you have to know that there is one guy you love more. There has to be one man who you know if the right choice for you."

Slowly, Addison nodded, absorbing Miranda's words. She was right, of course. In the months she had been leaving in Seattle, Addison had learned that Miranda Bailey was almost always right.

Addison did have feelings for both men. She really did love them both. But she had to make a decision. And if she was honest with herself, she knew what that decision was. Her brain might not know how to make the choice, but her heart did.

But it was still going to be hard. No matter what she did, she was going to hurt somebody. That was really the hardest part. She knew firsthand what it was like to be hurt by the person you loved. She was dreading this. But Addison knew that it would be better to get it over with now. Miranda was right. She couldn't drag Derek and Alex along. She had to go through with her decision. And she had to do it tonight.

"Where are you going?" Miranda asked as Addison grabbed her purse and got to her feet.

"You're right. I've made my decision. I'm going to go do this."

"Aren't you going to tell me what you decided?" Miranda called after Addison as she started to walk away.

Addison smiled a little and shook her head. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. I think there's someone else who should probably hear this first."

--------

Addison stood in front of the door, staring at it. She knew she was making the right decision, but there was still a tiny bit of doubt in the edge of her mind. It wasn't even really doubt. It was nervousness. She was taking a big leap of faith here. She knew she was making the right choice, but that didn't mean that everything was going to be sunshine and roses. She could choose the man that her heart belonged to, and it could still not work out. But she had to have faith that it would. Sometimes in your life you just had be a romantic. For Addison, this was one of those times.

She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. She hoped he was in. If he wasn't, she was going to start questioning her decision again. And she couldn't do that. She let out a sigh of relief when she heard someone moving inside.

The door opened.

"Addison. Hi."

"Can I come in? I wanted to talk to you."

"Sure. Come on in."

"Thank you."

Alex ushered Addison inside, closing the door after her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Alex asked.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about us."

Alex smiled. "I was hoping that's what you wanted to talk about. Look, I'm still pissed that you didn't tell me about being married, but I think we can work it out. And like I said before, I'll do my best to make sure that I never hurt..."

Alex trailed off when he saw the pained expression on Addison's face.

"Oh."

Addison looked at the floor. "Yeah."

"You're going to go back to Derek."

Addison nodded. "I'm sorry, Alex. I do have feeling for you, I really do. What we had together was amazing. But Derek...he's my husband. He's my family. I have to try to work things out."

"You don't have to," Alex argued. "He cheated on you. You don't owe him anything."

"Alex..."

"You don't have to work things out. You want to work things out." Alex's tone had turned bitter.

"Alex, please. Don't do this."

"No. It's fine. I understand. You'd rather be with your adulterous bastard of a husband then me. I was obviously just a placeholder. Someone you could screw around with until you got your husband back."

Addison wanted to reach out a hand to comfort him, but she stopped herself.

"It's not like that, Alex. It's not."

Alex glared at her, a mixture of hurt and anger on his face. "Just get out, Addison. Please, just get out."

Addison bit her lip and nodded, blinking back tears.

"Okay. Okay. I'll go. I really am sorry, Alex. I am."

"Just go."

Addison nodded and turned around, walking out of the apartment. She had known that things were going to be bad. But she had hoped that they would at least be able to talk about it. Maybe even salvage some sort of friendship. She knew that was a farfetched wish, but she had allowed herself to believe that it was possible. Now she wasn't even sure if Alex would ever even be willing to talk to her again.

But even though the hurt look on Alex's face was now burned in her mind, she knew that she had made the right decision. And now there was one more person to talk to about it.

---------

Again, Addison found herself standing in front of a door. But this time she didn't hesitate before knocking. She didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"Addison?" Derek asked after opening the door. He immediately saw that she had been crying recently. "Addison, what is it? What's wrong?"

Addison didn't even respond. She stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Derek's shirt, pulling him toward her and into a passionate kiss. Derek was more than a little surprised, but he responded almost instantly, wrapping his arms around her.

When the kiss finally broke, Derek smiled softly at Addison. "Not that I mind you groping me in the hallway of my hotel, but maybe we should go inside and talk."

Addison nodded. "I ended things with Alex," she said softly.

"Okay," Derek brushed the hair away from Addison's face.

"You need to know something. I chose you. I love you. I want to work things out. But Alex wasn't just some fling. I fell in love with him. And I'm still angry with you. You hurt me. You broke my heart. But you're my husband. And I love you."

Derek reached up and wiped the tears from her cheek. "Okay," Derek murmured as he kissed her gently on the forehead. "Okay."

------

The End

Just kidding. That's not even close to the end. I've really started to figure out where I'm going with this story. It's going to be pretty epic in length. So, if you don't want to hang around for the long hall, now is as good a time as any to bail out. You can just pretend that Addison and Derek worked everything out and they lived happily ever after.

But if you want to stick around, I'd be very pleased. There's all sorts of twists and turns that I've got planned. And if you stick around for the next chapter, you get Mark. Which is awesome, because Mark and Derek will be friends, since the whole Mark/Addison thing never happened. But don't worry; McSteamy still manages to cause some trouble.

As always, thanks to all my reviewers. I love you guys.


	11. Chapter 11

Derek lay in bed, propped up on one elbow, as he watched Addison sleep. She looked beautiful, her long red hair fanned out on the pillow. She lay on her side, facing him, and he couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke her face.

He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve her. There was no reason in the world that she should have given him a second chance. Yet here she was. He couldn't believe how lucky he was.

Derek had spent most of the night trying to prepare himself for the worst. He had fully expected to have Addison tell him to pack his bags and go back to New York. When he opened the door to his hotel room and saw her standing there, tears in her eyes, he felt his heart in his throat. He thought she was about to tell him it was over.

Then she had kissed him.

And now here she was, sharing his bed. They hadn't had sex. Derek knew that Addison wasn't ready for that yet, and he wasn't going to push her. He was just glad that she had decided to stay the night. He had missed sleeping with Addison. He missed the sex too, of course. But he missed the actual sleeping part more than he ever would have thought possible. He had shared a bed with Addison for almost all of his adult life. Those first few days after Addison had left, he hadn't even been able to sleep. It wasn't just guilt that had him tossing and turning. Without Addison in it, their bed felt cold and empty.

Derek smiled down at Addison's sleeping form. He should be getting sleep. He had to work in the morning, after all. But he wanted to watch her for just a little while longer. He wanted to make up for lost time. He also couldn't help but feel a little afraid that if he went to sleep he might wake up to find her gone again. But Addison didn't make decisions lightly. If she had chosen him it was because she truly believed he was the right choice. She wouldn't change her mind unless he gave her a good reason to. And Derek vowed that he would never give her a reason to leave him again. Finally, he convinced himself that she wouldn't disappear and he laid down his head and went to sleep.

When Derek woke up to find Addison's side of the bed empty, he felt his heart stop in his chest. He sat up, looking anxiously around the room. She couldn't have left him again. He closed his eyes in relief when he heard the sounds of the showering running in the bathroom. He put of hand on his chest, breathing deeply to try and slow his pounding heart. She hadn't left. She was still with him.

Derek picked up the phone and dialed room service, ordering all of Addison's favorite breakfast foods. His wife had come back to him. He was in the mood to celebrate. If they both didn't have to go to work, he would have gotten them mimosas. Instead he got coffee, orange juice, and all sorts of fatty breakfast goodies that he knew Addison loved, but rarely let herself indulge in.

Derek heard the shower turn off, and a few minutes later Addison stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a terry robe. She looked amazing, her skin still glistening with droplets of water. All he wanted to do was throw her down on the bed and ravage her. But he held back. That was a step that Addison would have to initiate.

"Hey," Addison said softly as she met Derek's gaze.

"Good morning," Derek replied.

Neither of them was entirely sure what to say. Despite Addison's intentions, they hadn't talked last night. After Addison basically collapsed in his arms in the hallway, he had gently led her inside the room and sat her down on the bed. For a long while, they just sat there, Addison rested her head on Derek's shoulder, and rubbed a hand in circles on her back. Derek could tell that she was emotionally and physically exhausted. Eventually, he had just scooped her up in his arms and laid her down on the bed, tucking the blankets in around her. She had whispered a thank you, and then closed her eyes and was soon asleep.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Addison looked questioningly at Derek.

"I ordered room service," he explained.

Addison smiled, "I love room service breakfast."

Derek grinned at her. "I know."

Derek went to the door, and retrieved the cart from the hotel attendant. Addison's eyes grew wide as she eyed the amount of food on the cart that Derek wheeled in front of her.

"Derek, just how many people are you planning to feed?"

"I wanted to get all of your favorites."

Addison shook her head in amusement, and began to take lids off of the dishes. Derek watched as her smile grew with each dish.

"You really didn't leave anything out, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

Addison looked at him affectionately for a moment, but then her face grew serious.

"You know, Derek, we really do need to talk."

Derek nodded, his smile fading. "I know that. But I have an idea. Feel free to disagree with it, because you're totally calling the shots on how we deal with this."

"What's your idea?"

"I think that we don't talk now. We sit down and enjoy our breakfast. And then we go to work. Maybe we have lunch together if we have the time. And then, tonight, when we are done with work and we don't have any other time constraints, that's when we talk." Derek liked this plan for two reasons. The first was that they had to be at the hospital soon and this wasn't going to be a short conversation. The other reason was a more selfish one. He wanted to spend a nice morning with Addison. He didn't want tears or fighting. He wanted a little bit of peaceful time with the woman he loved.

Addison looked thoughtful for a moment, but eventually she nodded and took a seat on the edge of the bed. She looked at Derek and patted the bed next to her.

"Come on. You have to help me eat all this food."

Derek grinned. Later there would be the affair to talk about, and Addison's relationship as well. Things weren't going to be easy, Derek knew that. But for right now, he could forget all of that, and simply enjoy the feeling of sharing breakfast with his wife.

---------

Derek felt Addison hesitate as they walked up to the doors of Seattle Grace.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Addison took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just...I'm..." she trailed off.

"You're nervous about what's going to happen when you see Alex, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"We don't have to walk in together if you're worried about the gossip."

Addison snorted. "The way gossip travels in this hospital everyone will know the situation before lunchtime anyway. There's no need to hide that I'm giving my marriage another try. And at least we know that one person will be thrilled to hear the news."

"Richard."

"You staying in Seattle means he gets one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. I think he'll be pleased. You should actually go talk to him soon. That way he can get all the paperwork started."

"So, we are going to stay in Seattle then?" Derek asked.

Addison shot him a look. "I guess that's one more thing that we need to talk about. But I like it here."

"Okay," Derek said quickly, not wanting to cause trouble. They could talk about it later. Besides, he was willing to give up New York if it meant he didn't have to give up Addison.

They walked into the hospital side-by-side. For Derek, it felt very right. Unless an emergency popped up, they had almost always gone to work together. Walking into the hospital without her had felt unnatural.

"Derek! Addison!"

Addison and Derek both looked up at the staircase at the sound of a familiar voice calling their names.

"Oh my god," Addison murmured.

Derek stared in shock for a moment before a huge grin split his face.

"Mark!"

--------------

A/N: Yeah, so I decided to do a chapter from Derek's point of view. I like writing nice Derek. I like nice Derek. And I wanted to show that he really is serious about trying to make his marriage work. And now Mark's in town, which is going to be a lot of fun. I adore Mark, even if he is an asshole most of the time. I'm interested to explore what he's like when he still has his best friend at his side.

And a brief word on pairings: I know that a lot of you wanted Addisex. And I'm sorry. But either way, I was going to end up disappointing someone. "Cinnamon" is my big Alex/Addison story. I wanted to do something different here. Don't get me wrong, Addisex isn't over, not by a long shot. This story is my epic after all. But Addisex isn't the endgame here. If that really upsets you, you might want to stop reading. I certainly won't take any offense if you do. But I hope that even if you're an Addex fan, you'll stick around. Maybe I'll even be able to convince you to like Addek (even if only in fic form). I happen to love both pairings, and I hope some of my readers do too.

Next chapter: Friends reunite! Derek punches Mark (I'm curious to see if anyone can guess why)! And Alex actually makes a friend!


	12. Chapter 12

"Mark, what are you doing here?" Addison asked as her old friend pulled her into a hug.

"I took a week off. I figured I'd come out and help my friend win his wife back. But it looks like he doesn't need my help there." Mark smiled and looked back and forth between Addison and Derek. "You two came in together. That's a good sign."

Derek returned Mark's smile. "It's a very good sign." He reached over and grabbed Addison's hand. "Addie's giving me another chance. We're going to try to save our marriage."

Mark shook his head ruefully. "I guess I came out here for nothing, then. When are you guys headed back to New York?"

Addison exchanged a glance with Derek. After a moment she cleared her throat. "Actually, Mark, we're not."

Mark shot her a confused look. "What do you mean you're not coming back? You can't actually be thinking about staying in this hell-hole of a town."

"We are, actually," Derek admitted. "Addison has started to like Seattle. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save our relationship. She wants to stay, so we're staying."

"How could you possibly want to live here, Addison? It rains, like, 360 days out of the year!"

Addison sighed. "I may not be in love with the weather, but Seattle Grace is a good hospital. Besides, I've signed a contract with Richard; I'm not going to break it. "

"And they have lots of ferry boats here," Derek said with a wry grin.

"You're a freak. You realize that, right?" Mark asked.

"Hey! I just like ferry boats. There isn't anything wrong with that."

Mark let out a groan. "You realize what this means, right?"

"What what means?" Addison asked.

"You two moving to Seattle," Mark explained. "It means I'm going to have to move to Seattle." Seeing Addison and Derek's confused expressions, he continued. "You two are my best friends. Hell, you're pretty much the only two people in the world I can actually stand to be around."

"You're serious," Addison remarked. "You're actually going to move to Seattle?"

"Do you really think I'd let you guys get rid of me so easily?" Mark asked. "Of course, I'm going to need to find a job."

Derek grinned and slapped Mark on the shoulder. "This is great! It'll be just like old times. And I'm sure Richard would hire you. It'd bring in some good business."

Addison glanced at her watch. "Actually, Derek and I have a staff meeting. Do you want to tag along?"

Mark shook his head. "I thought I'd take a look around the hospital, get to know the place. I'll make an appointment to talk with Webber later."

"Okay, well we've got to go." Addison kissed Mark on the cheek, "I'm glad you're here, Mark."

"I'll catch up with you two later," Mark called after them as they walked away.

"I just can't believe it," Derek said, shaking his head. "Mark's actually going to move to Seattle. He's going to hate it here."

Addison shrugged. "He made a good point, though. You know that we're pretty much all he has. And it'll be great having him here."

Derek nodded.

Addison smiled at her husband. "I'm really glad to see you guys getting along so well. It's nice that you didn't hold a grudge."

Derek furrowed his brow, "A grudge? What are you talking about?"

Addison realized his confusion was genuine, and her eyes grew wide. "You know what? Pretend I didn't say anything."

Derek put a hand on Addison's arm, and stopped walking. "Addison, what's going on? Why are you surprised that I'm getting along with Mark."

Addison squirmed a little. She had just assumed that Derek knew. She really didn't want to be the one to tell him; she knew that it'd just cause trouble. But she also knew that there was no way she'd get away with not telling him.

"Derek," Addison said softly, "Mark's the one who told me about the affair."

Derek's face turned to stone. Without saying a word, he turned around and headed back the way they had come.

"Derek!" Addison called out, but it didn't make a difference. She sighed and hurried after him.

Mark was still in the lobby when he saw Derek headed toward him, an angry expression on his face.

"Derek? What's going--"

Mark was cut off when Derek's fist connected with his face. He reeled back, almost falling to the floor.

"What the hell!" Mark exclaimed when he recovered from the shock, but Derek was already walking away."

"Mark!" Addison rushed toward him, but he waved her away.

"Go after him," he told Addison. "Try to calm him down."

Addison hesitated, but eventually nodded. "I'm sorry, Mark. I thought he knew that you were the one who told me."

Mark nodded curtly, "I'll be fine. Just go."

--------

Izzie had just entered the hospital when she saw Doctor Shepherd approaching a man she didn't recognize. Izzie had enjoyed working his Shepherd and, apart from the cheating on his wife thing, he seemed like a really nice guy. So she was more than a little surprised to see him punching someone in the middle of the hospital lobby.

Shepherd just turned and walked away, and Izzie watched as Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd approached, only to get waved away. The man was breathing heavily, a hand raised to his eye.

Izzie hurried over to see if she could help.

"Oh my god! Are you okay? Do you need some help?"

The guy nodded. "Think you could get me some ice? And an empty room? I think I might need a suture kit too."

"You're a doctor?" Izzie asked.

"A plastic surgeon. Now, don't get me wrong, normally I'd love to stand here and chat with a beautiful woman, but I've just been punched in the face, so if we could get going..."

"Yeah, of course." Izzie stuttered. "Come with me."

----------

Meredith closed her locker and looked around the room. "Has anybody seen Izzie?"

George shook his head. "She left the house early, because she had some errands to run. I haven't seen her since."

"Cristina?"

"No, I haven't seen her either. Hopefully she's around somewhere. It'll piss Bailey off if she's late."

As the interns started to leave the leave the locker room, Meredith looked back to see Alex sitting on a bench, staring into space. She motioned for Cristina and George to go on without her.

"You okay?" Meredith asked, taking a seat next to Alex.

Alex looked up. The surprised expression on his face was quickly replaced by a scowl. "What do you care, Grey?"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to try to get along with the rest of us."

"I disagree," Alex snapped.

"Look, you're obviously having a hard time. I know you're upset about Doctor Montgomery-Shepherd having a husband. But she must have had a reason for leaving him. Things could still work out between the two of you."

"No," Alex contradicted. "Things are not going to work out between me and Addison. She already chose her cheating jack-ass of a husband over me."

Meredith bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Alex."

"I ask again: what do you care?"

"You don't like the rest of us very much, I get that. But for the next few years, it's going to be really hard to avoid us. If you want to be the jerk who stands off by himself in the corner, that's your decision. But if you decide you might want to try actually having a friend, let me know." Meredith stood to leave. "And the reason I care? I think that underneath all the bravado, you're probably a pretty good guy. After all, Addison obviously saw something in you worthwhile and I don't like seeing people hurt."

"Meredith," Alex said, as she was about to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Meredith smiled at him. "Come on, we're going to be late for rounds."

As the two of them headed to rounds, Meredith had an idea.

"You know, the rest of us are meeting at Joe's tonight, if you want to come."

"A night with O'Malley and Yang?" Alex shook his head. "I don't think so."

"You should get out and do something tonight, Alex. And if you come, I'll buy your drinks."

"You've got yourself a deal."

----------

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I wasn't in a writing mood. But I think I'm getting back into the grove of things now.

Next chapter: Addison is not pleased with Derek, Izzie gives the other interns a report on Mark, the interns go for drinks.


	13. Chapter 13

"You punched Mark."

Addison had tracked down Derek to an empty on-call room and was now standing in front of him, arms folded across her chest.

Derek was sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. He looked up at Addison and sighed when he saw the expression on his face.

"You punched Mark," Addison repeated.

"Yes, Addison. I know. I was there after all."

Addison's expression grew even darker. "You're going to be flippant with me right now? Really? You punch one of our dearest friends in the face and now you're being flippant?"

"Addison!" Derek was practically yelling. "He's the reason you left! Of course I hit him."

Addison just stared at him.

"What?" Derek asked defensively.

"Derek, you just blamed Mark for me leaving you. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? Do you really think that Mark is the one to blame?"

Derek let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "No. I don't. Of course I don't."

"Then why did you punch him?"

"He shouldn't have been the one to tell you, Addison. And if he was going to tell you, he should have come to me. He should have given me a chance to tell you first. Things could have been different."

"Derek..." Addison shook her head.

"No! They would have been different. Can you honestly tell me that if I had told you about the affair myself you still would have done the same thing?"

Addison bit her lip. "I don't know Derek."

"We would have been able to talk. You couldn't have just walked away without even seeing me, without even saying goodbye. We could have talked. We could have fought it out like we just did the other day. All of these months we could have been working on putting our marriage back together."

"Derek. Mark's not just your friend. He's my friend too. I'm not going to be angry at him for telling me about your affair. He only told me the truth. I don't know why he didn't go to you first. It surprised me, actually. But he must have had some reason for it. You're the one who screwed up here, Derek. Yeah, if you had told me, things might have been different. But you didn't tell me. You had plenty of time, and you didn't."

"Addison--"

"No," Addison cut him off. "Go find Mark. He's our friend and you punched him in the face. Go find him and make things right."

Derek looked as if he was about to protest, so Addison interrupted him again.

"Make things right, Derek." With that, Addison turned and walked from the room.

----------

"Derek Shepherd punched somebody this morning!"

Cristina and Meredith had been chatting at the Nurses' Station, but Izzie's arrival and subsequent announcement, brought their conversation to a screeching halt.

"Shepherd punched somebody?!" Cristina exclaimed. "It was Karev, wasn't it?" Cristina swore under her breath. "I can't believe I missed it."

"Cristina!" Meredith admonished.

"What?" Cristina shrugged.

Izzie just shook her head. "No, no. It wasn't Alex. It was some guy named Mark Sloan. I think he's friends with the Shepherds."

"If they're friends then why did Shepherd hit him?" Meredith asked.

"I don't know. I was just coming into work. Shepherd and Montgomery-Shepherd were walking up the stairs-together I might add--"

"Yeah," Cristina interrupted. "Alex told Meredith that the She-Shepherd chose the He-Shepherd."

"Anyway," Izzie continued, "All of the sudden Shepherd comes back down the stairs and punches Sloan in the face. Montgomery-Shepherd came down to see if he was okay, but it looked like he sent her back after her husband. I went up to see if the guy was okay."

"Was he?" Meredith asked.

Izzie nodded. "I think so. He needed a couple of stitches. But get this: he stitched up his own face!"

"What?" Meredith and Cristina asked in unison.

"Apparently he's a plastic surgeon." Izzie shrugged. "He was actually kind of a jackass. He said he didn't trust an intern to do it. So, he just did it himself."

"Oh my god," Cristina moaned. "That is one of the hottest things I've ever heard."

Izzie wrinkled her nose. "Okay, you are a sick, sick person."

"Oh, guys," Meredith said suddenly, "I meant to tell you, I kind of invited Alex to have drinks with us tonight."

Izzie and Cristina both stared at her in surprise.

"Jock-boy?" Cristina asked. "Why in the world would you do that?"

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know. He just seemed really sad about the whole thing with Montgomery-Shepherd. I thought it'd be good for him to get out and do something. Besides it's about time we all started to try to get along with him. We see him every single day.

"Yeah, and he's a jerk every single day," Cristina pointed out.

"Hey, Izzie was just saying the other day that one of us should talk to him."

Izzie shook her head. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to spend time with him outside of work. I mean, I feel bad for him and all, but we go to Joe's to relax and have fun. Spending time with Alex will not be relaxing and fun."

"He's coming," Meredith insisted. "And neither of you are backing out. And you're both going to be nice, okay?"

"Fine," Izzie agreed with a sigh.

"Cristina?" Meredith asked, shoot her friend a stern look.

"Okay," Cristina eventually agreed. "But you are totally buying the first round."

--------

"Hey."

Mark looked up from the cafeteria table he was occupying to see Derek standing before him, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Hey yourself," Mark said.

"Can I sit?"

"I don't know," Mark said. "Are you here to talk, or to punch me again?"

"I'm sorry about that."

Mark snorted. "No, you're not."

"Mark," Derek began.

"Sit your ass down, Derek. I'm not mad."

Derek raised an eyebrow, but pulled out a chair and sat down. "You're not mad that I punched you."

Mark shrugged. "I've kinda been expecting it."

"You have?"

"Sure," Mark said with a nod. "You had to find out eventually that I was the one who told Addison."

Derek shook his head in frustration, still angry with his old friend. "I just don't understand how you could do it, Mark."

"Addison had a right to know."

"She should have heard it from me!" Derek became aware of how loud he was getting, and lowered his voice as he repeated, "She should have heard it from me."

"You were never going to tell her, Derek." Mark sighed. "Maybe you would have if I had threatened to do it first. But on your own? Never would have happened."

Derek looked at Mark in surprise. "You can't actually think that I wouldn't have told her eventually."

Mark took a sip of his coffee and studied Derek for a moment before answering. "Derek, I know you. You didn't have any plans to continue the affair, did you?"

"Of course not! It was a one-time thing."

"Exactly. And you would have convinced yourself that, being a one-time thing, there was no need to tell Addison about it. It was never going to happen again, and telling her would only hurt her. So you'd convince yourself that not telling her was actually the right thing to do, the good thing to do."

Derek sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You still should have told me, Mark. You should have come to me first."

Again, Mark shrugged. "Maybe I should have. But frankly, I was pissed at you too. You're supposed to be the good guy, Derek, the faithful guy. You're married to this amazingly attractive, smart, funny, woman, a woman you love. And you cheated on her. It's Addison, Derek. Are you really that surprised that I'd tell her what you did? Can you really blame me?"

"No. I guess I can't. And I am sorry that I hit you. I didn't even think about it. It was just gut instinct."

"Eh. It's not that big of a deal. It's not like it was the first time one of us threw a punch at the other, and I doubt it'll be the last."

Derek grinned. "Yeah, you're probably right about that."

Mark smiled in return. "And you really are a luck bastard that she agreed to take you back."

"I sure am."

"Not that I ever had any worries. Of course she took you back. You're Derek and Addison. Nothing could split you up for long. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't come back to New York weeks ago."

Derek shook his head. "Well, I didn't have your confidence. She was so furious when I showed up here. I didn't even think she'd speak to me. Especially since she had started seeing someone else."

Mark looked up in surprise. "Wait, she was seeing someone?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah, Richard actually mentioned that to me when he called me to come consult on the case I'm working on."

"You didn't tell me that," Mark noted.

"I figured if I told you, you'd fly out here and beat the crap out of the guy."

"You do know me pretty well," Mark said with a smile. "So, who was it? One of the doctors working here?"

"Actually," Derek said with a small smirk, "she was seeing an intern."

"No way!" Mark exclaimed. "Addison Shepherd sleeping with an intern? God, Derek. You must have screwed her up even more than I thought."

Derek became serious. "I don't know, Mark. She really seems to have feelings for him. She made it clear that it wasn't just some fling."

"Wow. What's this guy's name? I've gotta check him out."

"Alex Karev." Derek studied his friend's face. "You aren't going to do anything to him, are you?"

Mark grinned. "I'm not going to touch a hair on his head, I swear. I just want to find out more about the guy."

"No violence," Derek said sternly. "Addison would kill both of us."

"No violence," Mark repeated. "I just want to do a little information gathering." Mark's grin grew, "And speaking of information gathering, what do you know about that hot blonde intern? Lizze something?"

Derek chuckled. "Izzie. Izzie Stevens. I've actually had her working with me on my case. She's good."

"She's a babe."

"You know, if you're going to be getting a job here, you probably shouldn't be seducing the interns."

"Hey, if Addison can bag a intern, so can I." Mark drained his coffee cup and got to his feet. "Anyway, I've got to go. I'm meeting with Webber to do the job talk."

"Good luck, Mark," Derek called after him.

"As if I need it," Mark said over his shoulder as he strutted out of the cafeteria.

As Derek watched Mark go, he couldn't help but grin. Even over something like this, he couldn't stay mad at Mark for long. Things were finally going well. Yeah, his marriage still had a long say to go before it was stable again. But the important thing was that Addison was willing to work on it. And now, Mark was in town. He'd be working with his wife, and his best friend.

Things were definitely starting to look up.

----- 

A/N: No, I haven't given up on this story. I just couldn't get in the writing mood. But working on this chapter made me remember how much I like this story. I especially love writing Mark. He's a blast.

Next chapter: The interns at the bar (yeah, it got pushed back). Addison and Derek working on their marriage. Mark flirting with people. Addison and Alex share a scene.


	14. Chapter 14

"So anyone on a good case?"

Alex, Meredith, Izzie and George all groaned at Cristina's question.

"So we spend all day at the hospital and that's what you want to talk about when we come out to relax?" Meredith asked her friend.

Cristina shrugged. "What else are we going to talk about?"

Alex took a slow sip of his beer before saying, "Yang's got a point. Not like any of us have lives. Or anything in common outside of work."

"You don't have to stay," Cristina pointed out.

"Cristina, be nice," Meredith admonished.

Cristina muttered an apology in Alex's general direction then repeated her original question.

"Izzie's got a great case," George piped up. "Ow!" He gingerly rubbed his side where Izzie had just elbowed him.

"We don't want to talk about my case," Izzie said quickly, sending a glare in George's direction.

"Why not?" Cristina asked.

Izzie didn't say anything, looking uncomfortable, before Alex spoke.

"Because," he said bitterly, "her case is with my ex-girlfriend's husband."

"Oh, yeah," Cristina said, having the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"He's working at the hospital. He's name is going to have to come up sooner or later. Hell, I'm probably going to have to work with him at some point." At that thought, Alex took another swig of his beer. "If you want to talk about Izzie's surgery, I really don't care."

"Good," Cristina declared. "Because it sounds totally awesome and I can't believe you got lucky enough to get it." The last part was directed at Izzie with a jealous look on her face.

Izzie shrugged, "I don't know why Doctor Shepherd asked me, but I'm glad he did. He's letting me scrub in tomorrow. I mean, it's not like I'm really expecting him to let me do anything, but at least I get to be in the room and watch everything up close."

"What time is the surgery at?" George asked. "I want to be in the gallery for it."

As Cristina, George and Izzie talked excitedly about the neurosurgery, Alex stood up from the table. "I'm going to go grab another round."

"I'll come too," Meredith said, seeing the tense look on Alex's face.

"You doing okay?" Meredith asked after Alex had signaled Joe for a new round of drinks.

Alex shrugged once again. "What, you expected I'd share a couple of drinks with you guys and suddenly we'd be best friends?"

Meredith sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Alex come on, give 'em a chance and—"

Alex waved a hand dismissively, cutting her off. "Yeah, yeah. I know. We're all going to be together for the next few years, I should try to get along and form positive relationships with everybody, have a support system, blah blah blah. You've gone over it before."

"Okay, okay." Meredith held up her hands in surrender. "No speeches, I promise. And I know you don't want to do the heart-to-heart talk or anything like that. I just wanted to know how you're doing."

There was a long pause before Alex answered. "Well, I have to say I was doing better thirty seconds ago.

Meredith realized he was looking past her, toward the door. She turned and grimaced when she saw what he was staring at. Or rather, who, he was staring at. Addison and Derek had just walked in together.

--

Derek almost ran into Addison when she stopped short in the doorway right in front of him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, but when Addison didn't respond he followed her gaze and noticed Alex Karev glaring at them. "Ah," he said, a little awkwardly. "Do you want to leave?"

Addison hesitated, watching as Alex angrily spun around and headed back to his table. She turned back to her husband, shaking her head. "I think we should probably find somewhere else. It's not fair for us to stay here. He's going to have to deal with us all day at work as it is."

"Okay," Derek said, putting a comforting hand on Addison's shoulder as they turned back around and walked out of the bar.

"Do you want to just go back to my hotel room?" he asked cautiously, wondering if she might want more neutral territory.

"How about we go back to my house instead?"

Derek was a little surprised, but pleased at the suggestion. "Are you sure?"

Addison smiled, "Well, if we're seriously about doing this, I'm assuming you're going to have to see it at some point. After all, you'll be living there eventually."

Derek was happy to hear her talking positively about their future. He wasn't thrilled at the notion of 'eventually', but it was certainly a step in the right direction.

"Besides," Addison added. "It's probably better to have this conversation with coffee rather than alcohol."

"You two aren't leaving, are you?"

Derek and Addison turned to see Mark headed toward them.

"Sorry, Mark," Addison said. "We decided to head home. Time to have a long overdue talk. The bar's not the best place for it."

"Especially not right now," Derek muttered.

Mark nodded toward the bar. "I take it the intern's in there?"

Addison nodded and Mark grimaced. Then his face brightened. "Hey, is the hot blonde in there too?"

Derek chuckled and Addison rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Derek affirmed, "I think I saw Stevens."

"Mark..." Addison began, warningly.

"Nothing wrong with wanting a little company while I have a drink. Besides, your husband tells me she's very competent. Maybe I want to talk to her about shadowing me on a case."

"Sure," Derek said with a snort. "Because we all know how much you love teaching interns."

Mark scowled. "You did have to go choose a teaching hospital, didn't you, Addie?"

"I take it this means you will be working at Seattle Grace?" Addison asked.

"Meeting with Webber to iron out a contract tomorrow."

"Mark, that's great!" Addison exclaimed, drawing her friend into a hug. "We'll have drinks tomorrow night to celebrate, okay?"

Mark agreed and wished the couple a good night, watching them head off toward the hospital parking lot before he headed into the bar. He was looking forward to getting to know a certain blonde intern a little bit better. And, he realized, he'd finally get a look at Addison's boy-toy. He knew Addison and Derek had a long, difficult night ahead of them. But him? He was going to have fun.

--

Author's Note: Yep, I'm bringing this one back too. Long, long time, I know. I'll be rotating between this and Cinnamon over the next week or two, but after Cinnamon is done, I'll pour my focus onto this one.


	15. Chapter 15

The silence in Addison's kitchen hung heavy in the air. Addison shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she stared across the table at her husband. It was true that the last year or so of their marriage hadn't been good, but Addison couldn't remember a time when things had been so awkward.

The drive over had been okay, and at first they had gotten by on small talk. Derek asking some questions about the house, complimenting her on how nice it all looked while she kept herself busy making coffee.

But now, sitting across from each other, ready for the big talk, the whole reason they were here...nothing. She didn't know where to start. And apparently, neither did Derek. It should not be this hard to talk to your husband.

Watching Derek nervously playing with his coffee mug, Addison couldn't help but grin.

Derek's forehead creased in confusion. "Okay, I have to ask, Addy. What, in the world, is funny?"

Addison shook her head. "I'm sorry, Derek. It's this situation. We're just sitting here. We have everything in the world to talk about, but besides agreeing that the color of the kitchen is lovely, we can't even form one word between us."

Derek grinned sheepishly. "I guess your right. It does seem almost silly, doesn't it? But to tell you the truth, I simply don't know where to start."

"It's a little ridiculous. We're both smart, capable adults. We used to be able to talk to each other, right? I mean really talk to each other."

"Yeah," Derek nodded. "We did. I want to say so much. But I guess, I'm having troubling saying it because it all seems so cliched. I want to tell you how sorry I am, and how much I still love you, and that I want to spend my life with you, that I'll do anything to make this work. But I also know it isn't that easy. And I know that saying I'm sorry doesn't erase what I did or the hurt that I caused you."

Addison let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "I need to be honest with you Derek. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over you sleeping with another woman. You hurt me. You betrayed me and no matter how bad things had gotten between us, finding out about the affair was like a knife in my heart."

At the stricken look on Derek's face, Addison reached across the table and took his head. "But I want to try Derek. Things were bad even before this happened. I want to try. I've been in love with your for most of my adult life. I want to make this work. But I'm not making any promises. I can't."

Derek nodded, tears in his eyes. "I understand. And I know it's going to be a lot of work. For both of us. But thank you for giving me a chance. For giving us a chance."

There was another long silence and this time it was Derek who broke it.

"So, what's the next step?" he asked nervously.

Addison looked down at the table for a moment, mulling this over. God, she just didn't know. She wished she could just snap her fingers and make everything better again. She wished she could go back in time. To before the affair, to before things had gone bad. Or maybe to just a few weeks ago. Hell, a few days ago. When she was spending her time with Alex, laughing and arguing and not expecting anything from each other.

She looked up at Derek again, with sudden determination. "Move in here."

Derek looked shocked. "What? I mean...I thought...Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled. But I wasn't expecting that so soon."

Addison wasn't sure what to say. Actually, she had surprised herself. That was a step she thought was way down the line. But she had said it. And now she meant it. Maybe jumping in with both feet was the only way to do it.

She shrugghed, chuckling a little. "I wasn't expecting it so soon either. But it's the right thing, isn't it?"

"Addison, I want to move in with you. I do. But you need to be sure, okay."

"I am sure," she grew more determined every second. "I don't want to date you Derek. Seeing you at the hospital, having lunch and dinner together and then going our sepearte ways? I don't think that'll work. If we're going to work this out, we need to really be together."

Derek nodded, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Okay, Addy. Okay. I could get my stuff from the hotel tomorrow afternoon. I'll be done with my surgery in time."

Addison smiled weakly in return. "Maybe this weekend we can start working out what to do about New York. There's still a lot of stuff there to box up. And figuring out what to do with the house."

"So," Derek said, continuing to smile. "Why don't you tell me about your day?"

Addison's smile became a little more genuine. Just for a moment, it felt like the old days. She took a sip of her coffee and began to talk, pleased with how easy it suddenly was. Certainly there was still a lot to do, and a lot more to talk about. But for now, she just wanted to enjoy her husband's company.

-----------

Izzie stood at the bar, drumming her fingers idly on the counter top as she waited for her her order to Joe. It was her round, and in truth, she was glad to get away from the table for a little bit. She felt bad for Alex, she really did, but that didn't mean she really wanted to spend her free time with him. George was great, and she got along with Meredith well, even Cristina was okay a lot of the time. But Alex was just as prickly as the day they had met. Actually, he was probably more prickly since everything with the Doctors Shepherd went down.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

Izzie turned to see the grinning -no _leering- _figureof Mark Sloan standing beside her. She was unsure what to make of him. He was cute, certainly. Scratch that, the man was flat-out hot. And him suturing himself had been pretty bad-ass. But then again, he had done it himself because he thought she'd screw it up, which was definitely not a point in his favor.

"I'm here with friends, actually," Izzie said, pointing to the table filled with her fellow interns.

"I'm sure they'll be okay without you for a few minutes," Mark reasoned.

"But would I be okay for a few minutes with you?" Izzie asked.

Mark smirked. "You'd be in very good hands."

Izzie crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Mark. "And why would I want to have a drink with a guy who doesn't even think I'm competnant enough to do a suture job."

Mark raised his hands defensively. "Come on, now. That wasn't personal. I have no idea what your skill level is. I'm a plastic surgeon. Having scars on my face is not exactly good advertsing."

Izzie sighed in relief when Joe placed a tray of shots and beers in front of her. She thank him, and picked up the drinks, sparing a glance in Mark's direction.

"I'm going back to my friends now."

"Come on," Mark placed a hand on her arm. "

At least tell me if that guy sitting against the wall is Alex Karev."

Izzie looked at Alex and then back to Mark. "Just leave him alone, alright?"

"Ah," Mark said with a grin. "So it is Addison's little fling."

Izzie's frowned deepened. "You know what, your friends already hurt him enough, so how about you leave him alone."

"What makes you think I want to hurt him?" Mark asked.

"I don't know, maybe the gleeful look in your eyes and the fact that you've already proven to be something of an ass."

"Hey, the guy has it coming. He had an affair with one of my best friends, who happens to be the wife of my other best friend."

"He didn't know it was an affair!"

Mark blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Izzie sighed. "Your best friend didn't bother to tell Alex that she was married. Nobody knew until Doctor Shepherd showed up, alright? Alex didn't do anything wrong. So just leave him alone!"

Mark nodded slowly, a little taken aback. "I...I didn't know that."

"Hey, look at that. Something the great Mark Sloan didn't know."

"I just want to make sure he stays away from Addison, okay?" Mark said. "She and Derek need a chance to work things out without him getting in the way.

"Not that it's any of your business," Izzie said. "But I don't think you have to worry about that. Alex doesn't want anything to do with Dr. Montgomery-Sheperd anymore."

"You know," Mark said with a grin. "You might want to me nicer to me."

"Why?" Izzie asked bluntly.

"I'm starting work at Seattle Grace next week."

Izzie let out a sigh. "Fantastic," she said flatly. "Well, if you'd excuse me Oh Great and Wonderful Plastic Surgeon God, I'm going back to my friends now."

Mark watched her go, a smile on his face. He'd have to keep an eye on Izzie Stevens. She was feisty. Mark liked feisty.


End file.
